Debian is threatening to switch their default DE to XFCE if Gnome 3 doesn’t bring back a “more comfortable” interface for Gnome 2 users.

A year ago Debian went through a similar trial: to go with Gnome 3 as the default desktop environment, or the lighter-weight and more familiar interface found in XFCE.

In a Debian GIT commit post Sunday, it was announced that they will again review XFCE as a promising option to replace Gnome 3 in the famous Linux distro.

The dramatic change is still subject to evaluation before the next major release–named “Jessie”–is finalized. The post states, “The evaluation will start around the point of DebConf (August 2014). If at that point gnome looks like a better choice, it’ll go back as the default.”

Is Debian really pushing to switch to XFCE? They could be using XFCE as leverage to push the Gnome 3 developers to give us what we really want, presenting an ultimatum if they don’t succeed. The post goes on to say, “If [Gnome 3] feels comfortable to Gnome 2 (and XFCE) users, that would go a long way toward switching back to it as the default.”

Unfortunately we need to wait about 10 months to see the outcome of how the Gnome developers react to the threat of losing their long-standing relationship with Debian and its users, but this could mean some exciting developments for us old-school Linux users.